October 30, 2025 • 29 mins
Pain with your first step in the morning. Burning feet at day’s end. A nagging ache that never quite lets you forget it’s there. We tackle chronic foot pain head on, pulling apart the tangled causes—from mismatched shoes and hidden tendon tears to stress, sleep loss, and the nervous system’s grip on pain—and rebuilding a plan that actually works.
With Dr. Lauren's clinical lens and real patient stories, we map a smarter path forward. We start with clear definitions and red flags that help you know when to get evaluated. Then we walk through an evidence-informed exam flow: x-rays to read foot type and alignment, in-office ultrasound to catch partial tears and nerve irritations that often hide in plain sight, and MRI when clarity demands it. You’ll hear why so many people stay stuck—generic footwear, overuse, under-recovery, and an overreliance on pills that mute symptoms but miss root causes—and how a few targeted adjustments change everything.
We go deeper than mechanics. Nerve pain and arthritis respond to fuel, movement, and stimulus: B vitamins, protein-forward meals, gentle walking, laser, and TENS can “wake” nerves while reducing background inflammation. We connect the dots between anxiety, high cortisol, and persistent pain, and share practical ways to lower the volume: better sleep routines, morning light walks, breath work, and paced activity. Prevention becomes a daily rhythm—supportive shoes that fit your foot type, orthotics when indicated, calf and quad stretches you’ll actually do, Epsom salt soaks, skin care to tame calluses, and a simple home kit that keeps flares from snowballing.
Whether you’re inactive and hurting, an athlete nursing a stubborn flare, or somewhere in between, you’ll come away with a clear, doable plan to break the cycle: assess precisely, support wisely, load progressively, and calm the system so it can heal. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and drop your questions in the comments—we’ll feature the best insights next time and keep helping you get back on your feet. Visit LMDPodiatry.com to learn more about getting back on your feet—for good.
Visit LMDPodiatry.com to learn more about getting back on your feet—for good.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Welcome to the LMD Podiatry Podcast.
Trust us to get back on yourfeet.
Here's your host, Dr.
Lauren Debakarov.
SPEAKER_01 (00:15):
Well, hello, hello, everyone, and welcome back to
another episode of the LMDPodiatry Podcast.
Your co-host, Jeremy Wolfe,alongside none other than the
hostess with the most us, Dr.
Lauren Debakarov.
Always a pleasure to see you.
SPEAKER_03 (00:29):
Thank you, Jeremy.
Always a pleasure to hang outwith you and talk about feet.
SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Talk about the feet.
Yeah, you know, I read somewhererecently that a staggering
number, around 80% of Americansat some point or other in their
life suffer from foot pain, inmany cases, chronic foot pain,
right?
And that makes sense, right?
Because we're on our feet allday.
Um, so today we're gonna talk alittle bit about that.
We're gonna talk about whatconstitutes chronic foot pain,
(00:56):
why it's so prevalent across ourpopulation, um, how we treat it,
how we manage it, and I thinkmore importantly, how we can
prevent it from happening in thefirst place.
So we're gonna get into this,and I'm gonna pick your brain.
Uh, you are you are the experthere.
I got some good questions foryou.
So so let's just start off withfrom like definition
definitionally speaking, right?
Like what in your mind or orwhat constitutes chronic foot
(01:18):
pain?
SPEAKER_03 (01:20):
So in my mind, chronic foot pain is essentially
pain that doesn't go away,right?
Uh, if someone has pain everyday, whether it's with a
specific step or with a specificshoe or a specific movement that
they do, that is the definitionof chronic foot pain.
(01:40):
It's just daily and it doesn'treally resolve on its own.
So now there's multi multiplefactors that go into that, but
that's my definition.
If someone has this nagging painand doesn't go away, and they
what and then if they dosomething about it and it still
doesn't go away, then it'sofficially chronic.
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
Got it.
So I mentioned that number 80%of Americans.
I wasn't sure if that was justfoot pain, generally speaking,
or actually chronic foot pain.
How common is it in you know,from what you see in your
practice, how common is chronicfoot pain?
And who who do you tend to seethat deals with it most?
Is it is it mostly the elderpopulation?
Is it like who who's a yourprime suspect, if you will, for
(02:24):
this ailment?
SPEAKER_03 (02:25):
I mean, okay, so I see a lot of patients.
I'm gonna say it's very commonin the inactive people and
people with multiple multiplemedical issues, also in the
obese population.
And there are athletes withchronic foot pain as well, but
that's from like some type ofinjury or something like that
(02:47):
that didn't heal.
But the people that always havepain in their legs and their
feet and their ankles, and it'salways both of them, and it's
always just the pain doesn't goaway, and they've tried it all.
I find it a lot in those peoplewho are very inactive, very
immobile, um, obese as well.
(03:09):
I see that a lot, and then thereare there is like I just had a
patient today who had a chronicfoot pain and he tried
everything, and I finally got anMRI, and he had a tear in his
foot, right?
So he's had chronic foot pain,he's been suffering for three
years, and someone me finallygot an MRI, and so it's a matter
(03:31):
of, so he he's been trying tolive with it for a very, very
long time, but in his case,there is a like there's a
solution, you know, we're gonnatry X, Y, and Z to get his tear
to heal, but there's always areason behind it, and he decided
not to ignore it anymore becausehe's an athlete.
SPEAKER_01 (03:52):
Smart man, glad he has you on it in his corner to
to help him through that thatprocess, right?
So I want to speak to a lot ofpeople out there.
I think there's a lot of peoplethat experience some pain in
their feet from time to time,uh, and and just ignore it.
Right in your in in yourpractice, what's what are some
(04:13):
of the biggest mistakes thatpeople typically make when they
first start feeling football?
Because I know from where I sit,I I'm in pain, I I'm often in
pain, right?
I I run a lot, as you know, andI a lot of times I have to kind
of weigh in my head.
Is this just uh a pain that isnot a big deal or is it a bigger
problem?
Is there an actual injury?
(04:34):
There's like a line betweenthere.
What what what it how do you seethat from your lens?
SPEAKER_03 (04:39):
So if it if it's a pain that just that you can't
walk it off and it keeps comingback, you need to see a doctor
for that.
Um, some of the telltale signsof chronic foot pain would be
like pain with the first step inthe morning.
Every time you wake up in themiddle of the night to go to the
bathroom or put your foot downin the morning, and your foot or
your ankle, your leg isexcruciating, something's going
(05:02):
on.
Okay.
Uh, or a lot of times when youhave pain at the end of the day,
meaning you just you had anormal day, you went to work,
you went to Publix, you walkedaround.
SPEAKER_01 (05:13):
Your feet are aching.
You want to get off your feet.
SPEAKER_03 (05:16):
You want to get off their burning and they're achy
at the end of the day,something's going on.
So a lot of a lot of so thereason why I wanted to bring up
chronic pain, it's notnecessarily if there's like an
acute um injury per state.
I wanted to more discuss abouthow how to get people out of the
(05:36):
pain cycle.
But more, like, for example, thethe telltale signs would be like
burning feet, tired feet.
Um, and the most common mistakeis a the person's shoe.
Like I said, you have an obesepopulation in America, and then
they're wearing these thin soleshoes that are not giving them
(05:57):
any support.
Not that I'm against barefootwalking, I'm not.
Uh, there's this whole um likethere's this whole trend.
I don't know if I want to callit a trend, but there's this
whole um ideology ofstrengthening all the intrinsic
muscles of your foot to healyour foot and things like that.
(06:18):
And that's great if you weren'tobese, right?
There's the zero-drop shoes andtoe yoga and things like that.
I'm not against it.
I was not educated about it inschool.
It can help with a lot ofpeople's foot pains, but for
people who have constant painand they have like burning and
numbness and tingling and achyfeet, and it just doesn't go
(06:39):
away.
SPEAKER_01 (06:39):
Uh that's support.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (06:42):
Yeah.
So that's where I wouldcategorize it as chronic foot
pain, right?
Um, and a lot of people sufferfor it.
Even I do.
I had issues with my feet for awhile, and until I changed my
shoes and did some therapy anduh put in some orthotics, now my
foot pain's gone.
And when I wear the wrong shoeand I'm and I had a nice
(07:03):
Thanksgiving and I gained threepounds, I feel it, you know.
So is it you know, my foot painis not necessarily chronic, but
I know what instigates it.
I know what is gonna trigger it,I know what my foot needs,
right?
Because I'm not light, I'm notobese, but I'm not light.
(07:24):
And my foot doesn't like a thinsoul chew.
And I can tell, I can feel itwhen I wear a flip-flop.
SPEAKER_01 (07:31):
Yeah, that that makes perfect sense.
Obviously, if you're uhsuffering from obesity, putting
more strain, like walking aroundbarefoot, is gonna put, yeah,
while it might help for somebodylike maybe I've heard that like
beach running is good for me,like on the sand, because your
feet go in all different waysand you're stretch stressing all
the different muscles.
But if you're already have asignificant excess load, I can
(07:52):
see how that could createstressors.
So the first thing would be, youknow, foundation.
Uh obviously it speaks to alarger issue, right?
About like overall health andtrying to maintain a healthy
lifestyle.
A lot of these ailments thatpeople suffer for not suffer
from not just chronic foot pain,but all sorts of chronic pain
can in many many times beaddressed by like lifestyle
changes, right?
Changes of your diet, changes ofexercise, your well overall
well-being in many cases willsolve these types of issues.
(08:16):
I know you mentioned that beforewe started.
A lot and a lot of times thischronic pain is really in
people's heads, right?
Psychosomatic to some.
SPEAKER_03 (08:23):
A lot of times, a lot of time, like listen,
there's people with fibromyalgiaand that and depression, and
that also takes a big it takes abig um number.
It it does play a big factor intheir foot pain.
Like I had a patient who he hada fracture for like a year, and
nobody and every someone justput him in a boot for like way
(08:45):
too long, and he he had completedisuse of his foot, and he was
in so much pain.
I fixed his foot surgically, Ifixed everything, I did all
these therapies on him.
I touch his foot, it doesn'thurt.
But he says, My foot hurts.
We repeated MRIs, and everyone'stelling him there's nothing
wrong with his foot.
And then the second Irecommended like a lifestyle
(09:06):
coach to him who got him on likea better diet, on an exercise
routine, and um, you know, weboth made him walk through his
pain.
He snapped out of it, and nowhis foot doesn't hurt because
he's happier now, and it's justlike he had something.
I think he also did a little bitof neurofeedback theory, uh,
(09:27):
therapy that's like for peoplewith attention deficit before.
Sometimes there's just synapsesin your brain that don't click,
and you really need to thinkoutside the box.
And that's when I love to likecall upon the chiropractors and
the lifestyle coaches, and uh,there's even something cool
called MRI therapy, which islike reflex therapy, very
interesting stuff.
(09:48):
Um, and it's all about trainingthe body to snap out of this
pain that they're stuck in.
So, yes, the foot can have aphysical injury, but sometimes
the pain doesn't let becausesomething is going on in the
subconscious, something is goingon on a different level in the
(10:08):
brain, and that sometimesthey're so depressed about their
pain that they just it doesn'trelease.
Right?
So, there's all that all thosethings are very connected to
chronic foot pain, which is whyI love my multi-fact, like
multi-step approach.
If the physical is there, andeven after we address the
(10:29):
physical chronic issue, likelet's say if the injury is
healed, if the fracture ishealed, if the chronic plantar
fasciitis is healed, if thechronic tendonitis is healed,
but they still have pain,there's something else
neurologically or subconsciouslyaffecting them, and even
health-wise, a lot of peoplethey have injuries.
(10:51):
Your but your body should healalmost everything naturally,
naturally, but but sometimeslike we live in a society that
has bad nutrition, so your bodycannot detoxify, you cannot heal
things properly.
Like you probably are a lothealthier than me.
Let's say you take morevitamins, so if you sprain your
(11:13):
ankle, you'll heal it fasterthan me, right?
So that are those all thingsthey play factors.
That's why when I have patientswith chronic issues, I address
all that.
I put them on vitamins, I sendthem to a lifestyle coach, I um
tell them to decrease theircarbs, I send them to a
chiropractor who doesspecialized uh like techniques
(11:33):
to release things from up herebecause a lot of times there's
things that happen up here orhigher up in the leg or the hip
that's affecting the pain downin the foot.
So that's kind of like that'swhy I wanted to bring this topic
to the forefront because peopleare suffering and they're
ignoring it, and they shouldn'tbecause it could affect their
(11:54):
health, it could affect theiremotions, it could affect their
psyche.
And then what kind of life doyou want to live?
Full of pain.
There's lots of things, there'sjust uh it's just so
multifaceted.
Even me, I had this tendinitisin my foot and it wouldn't go
away, and I didn't know why.
And um, I went to like a coupleof different people who were
(12:16):
like outside of the box thanyour traditional doctors, and
they were like, you have chronicanxiety and stress, and because
of that, I keep like tighteningup one side of my body and it's
compensating down there.
Yep, I was like, stop it.
I was like, no, no, I was like,no, first I didn't believe it,
(12:39):
but then I did somechiropractic, I did some like
changes, I did some stretches,and it made a difference.
I was like, wow, and then I waslike, I just I need to take care
of myself, I need to takecalming baths, and I need to
stretch a little more and takemore walks and and and be there
for myself.
So all these things, all there'sthere's all this subconscious
(12:59):
and emotional things that arerelated to chronic pain anywhere
in your body, but in general,foot pain number one is always
shoe related and obesity relatedin our generation, and that's
where it starts.
SPEAKER_01 (13:14):
Yeah, Jeremy What was that?
SPEAKER_03 (13:17):
What do you think?
What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
No, I'm I'm just I'm fascinated by you're hearing a
little echo.
No, I think we're good now.
The the psychosomatic side ofthis, because I notice
thankfully, I don't have even asa runner, I don't really have
chronic foot pain.
I my feet are are sore from timeto time, but I typically get
more pain in my knees from therunning of my lower back.
(13:39):
But I'll I'll find myselfrunning sometimes, and like I'm
perfectly fine, and then I getclose to the end and I feel like
I want to stop, and then all ofa sudden I'll get like a little
pain in my knee, and I startthinking in my mind, oh wow, did
I am I about to hurt something?
Or is this just my body tryingto like hijack me to stop
running?
And I'm like, and then all of asudden the next knee will the
(14:01):
other knee will start hurtingout of nowhere, and it's like,
okay, it's not the knee now,it's just in my head.
But there is a fine line betweenhaving a full bone injury and
actually just having somethinggoing on in your mind.
So when when a patient does showup in your office that's
experiencing this experiencingthis kind of pain, like take
take us through somebody's outthere, let's say I have chronic
chronic foot pain.
Um, I I pop into your office.
(14:23):
What is that process?
What is the evaluation processlook like?
Like walk us through what we'reto expect when we come in the
office with this issue.
SPEAKER_03 (14:31):
Right.
So so let's say someone comes inwith foot pain, they've had it
for a year, and they've gone todoctors, tried this, tried that,
doesn't go away.
So my first approach is alwaysto take the x-ray because you
want to take a look at thebones.
I don't just check for afracture or something like that.
(14:51):
I actually look at the shape ofthe patient's foot.
Because the shape of the foottells a lot about how they walk,
okay?
And if and the thing about shoestoday, I will say this shoes
today are made for foot size andnot for foot type.
You have people with higharches, low arches.
Back in the day, 100 years ago,all the shoes were custom made
to your foot.
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Okay, a cobbler made the shoes exactly.
Now you have where have allwhere have all the cobblers
gone?
We need more cobblers.
SPEAKER_03 (15:23):
You know, I'm a size 11, but no shoe is ever wide
enough for my foot, you know.
I have a wide foot, I have tokeep looking, and I found my
preferred brands, but they neverreally fit.
Like always, my toe like rubs alittle, you know what I mean?
So it's just like the shoestoday are knock-ups.
So so I take when I take thex-ray, I take 100%, I take a
(15:45):
look at the shape of the foot.
Because the shape of the footdoes and the shape of the foot
pair it with the wrong shoe willaffect their pain.
That's number one.
And then when I don't seeanything significant on the
x-ray, I have an ultrasoundmachine in my office, and I take
a look with the area of pain, Icheck for a swollen nerve or
torn joint, um, a torn ligament,uh uh, I check for a strain on
(16:11):
their uh on their tendon,something like that.
So I I like to see if there's anactual injury.
Just the other day, I had apatient, she's like, I have pain
on the top of my foot for ayear, and she went to this
doctor and that doctor, and theycouldn't help her.
Second I did the ultrasound, Iwas like, Oh, here, you have a
partial tear of your tendon.
You need to go into a boot forsix weeks.
So sometimes chronic pain canlike this person just didn't get
(16:36):
the right imaging to figure outwhat was causing her pain.
So now that we know what wascausing her pain, she's going to
immobilize her foot and hertendon should heal itself and
put itself back together.
If it doesn't, we get an MRI,and hopefully she doesn't need
surgery to stitch up the tendon,but she'll be okay.
But it's just like differentthings like that.
And it could be so easy to fixif the patients just come in,
(16:59):
and if they don't fix it, thenthey can tear, then they need
surgery.
Okay.
There's also another aspect ofchronic foot pain, I would say,
like people with neuropathy orarthritis, that pain never goes
away.
And some people just don't wantto deal with it, they pop
percocets and pills and vicodinsand gabapenthins.
(17:21):
Oh, not good, right?
So, like, for example, one of mybiggest like qualms with
neurology, right?
So, if someone has neuropathy,which is very painful, their
legs are burning and tingling,that is a chronic condition.
It is related to the nutritionof the nerve.
The nerve needs to wake up.
(17:42):
My multifaceted approach is tonourish the nerve, wake it up,
wake it up with a laser, wake itup with electric stimulation,
like a tens unit, buzz the crapout of the nerve, right?
Wake it up, start walking, okay?
Take a vitamin to help nourishthe nerve.
But then they go toneurologists, neurologists put
them on cymbalta, which is anantidepressant that actually
(18:05):
helps with nerve pain, or theyput them on gavapentin, or
lyrica.
Lyrica is also an antidepressantthat helps with nerve pain.
I'm not saying these thingsdon't help, they just don't fix
the root cause of the issue.
And these patients, their issuesget more and more chronic.
Same thing with arthritis.
They go to a rheumatologist.
Okay, you have rheumatoidarthritis.
(18:26):
Not saying they shouldn't be onmedications, but or someone just
has like a wear and teararthritis.
They use the asper cream fortheir hands, and they go on
these anti-inflammatories likediclofenac and maloxicam for
years, and then they destroytheir stomachs, right?
SPEAKER_01 (18:46):
So one problem for another, and don't eat, and you
don't even fix the underlyingproblem in the first place.
SPEAKER_03 (18:50):
Right.
So there's like there's so muchmore, and a lot of these chronic
issues like neuropathy andarthritis are related to health
as well.
You know, obviously, whensomeone has arthritis, I tell
them, don't eat dairy, don't eatgluten.
It's gonna make your arthritismore, you're gonna inflame more.
And there's studies about it.
(19:10):
You know, that's when I pairthem up with a lifestyle coach.
Hey, you need to go on somevitamins and change your
nutrition a little bit.
Diabetics too, diabeticneuropathy.
You need uh foods that are morerich in B vitamins, you need to
cut the potatoes, you need tocut the carbs.
It's my five, I tell mypatients, the diabetic patients,
(19:31):
stay away from the four W's.
No white rice, no white potato,no white pasta, and no white
bread.
SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
Oh, come on, that's not tough, right?
SPEAKER_03 (19:42):
It sucks to live.
But and that that goes back tonutrition and how like our food
is devoid of nutrients, which iswhy our but our DNI, our DNA
cannot repair itself.
So that's why these chronicissues really need to be
addressed from all parts of thespectrum.
(20:03):
Yep, and just give it a pill andignore it.
You should treat the root causeof the issue.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
I talk about it time and time and time again, how we
live in this instantgratification, quick fist, quick
fix, high-paced society whereyou know everybody is just
looking for the magic pill,right?
The one thing you could do, theone trick, the one social media
video that you see that solvesit all.
And and the hard conversation tohave is the conversation about
(20:31):
overall prevention, right?
How do we prevent these problemsfrom happening in the first
place?
Well, it goes back to the thingsthat we all struggle with doing,
building daily habits androutines and exercise and diet
and mental wellness, and youknow, for me, meditation,
journaling, all these differentthings play into living a happy,
productive lifestyle.
SPEAKER_03 (20:51):
Where I'm not great at this, but it really all boils
down to taking care of yourselfand putting time aside for
yourself.
I had a patient yesterday, Ihaven't seen her for a year, and
she says, I did everything yousaid, but because on the week on
the weekends, I do laundry, Iclean the house, I this, that's
when my foot hurts.
(21:12):
And I can't do anything aboutit.
I have to take care of thehouse.
And I'm like, you need to takecare of yourself.
Tell your husband to get acleaning lady and tell her to do
the laundry and the dishesbecause your planar fasciitis
has now become chronic becauseyou are not doing anything that
I asked you.
(21:32):
Like, she just she came in forpills, she asked me for pills,
and I'm like, listen, I'll giveit to you, it'll help, but you
really need to go back tostretching, you got to go back
to orthotics, or else you'regonna you're gonna end up having
surgery.
SPEAKER_01 (21:45):
Oh, yeah.
She'll take the she'll use thepills to numb the pain when
she's doing the work around thehouse.
The whole time that's happening,she's inflaming the area more,
and then it'll get to the pointwhere the pills don't even work
anymore, and your issue.
SPEAKER_03 (21:58):
I said, please go to physical therapy, take care of
yourself.
I had another patient, nicelady, I think she's like the
wife of a rabbi or somethinglike that, and the rabbi always
has like a million guests in hishouse or whatever, and she had
this really bad chronic Achillestendinitis, and I tried
everything on her because shedidn't have time to take care of
(22:18):
herself.
And then I looked at her and Iwas like, listen, go to physical
therapy.
And then when she finally wentto physical therapy and she took
care of the root cause of theissues of how tight she is and
all that kind of stuff, herAchilles tendon finally calmed
down, and she even sent me likea message.
She got my phone number fromsomeone, and like she sent me
like this amazing message on howthankful she was.
(22:40):
She just had to stop worryingabout the kids and worrying
about her husband and all theirguests all the time, and just
focus on herself, just treat theroot cause of the issue, treat
you know, do the therapy, do theicing, uh, get a massage, uh,
take the right vitamins.
SPEAKER_01 (23:00):
Now you're speaking my language.
SPEAKER_03 (23:01):
Cook yourself a healthy meal, and and your body
will will like love you andthank you for it.
It's very it's simple, it'shard, but that's the thing.
You know, we live in this uhinstant uh gratification
society, and everybody wantsthings fast and fast.
Fix it now.
Uh, just like I told this guy, Iwas like, hey, you have a tear
(23:25):
in your plantar fascia, yourbody should heal it, but it's
gonna take about six, seven,six, seven weeks.
And I said, But if you want tospeed it up, we could give you
one of the you could try thelaser and you know one of my
stem cell injections, but butthat's that's what people want.
People don't rely on theirbodies anymore to do what
they're supposed to do becausenobody has time.
(23:47):
I had a patient with like acomplete tear of his Achilles,
it was like hanging on a thread,and he's like, I'm sorry, I I I
sell cars, I need to go to work.
And I was like, fine, go to workin your boot, just keep your
boot on.
And he paid me, he gave me allthe money to use all my stuff
that makes him heal fast, and hehealed faster than most people,
(24:10):
which was pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_01 (24:11):
But he's motivated, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (24:14):
I don't care about the money, I just care about
getting these patients better.
It just takes time and nobodyhas patience.
Like that's why, and that's whythey end up in this with these
chronic issues.
You just have to you gottaaddress the nutrition, you gotta
address um your lifestyle, yougotta address the pain.
You even have to address yourcortisol levels.
(24:34):
Like a lot of times, like I havea patient who he's actually he's
getting laser therapy right now.
I'm gonna go see him after thispodcast.
And he says he's has sleepapnea, so that means he never
sleeps, and his cortisol levelsare always up, right?
So, how can your body repairitself?
How can your go back to normalif you don't sleep?
(24:56):
You gotta get some sleep.
Yeah, you know, so it's allrelated.
There are ways, you know, goodway to get your cortisol down is
take a walk in the morning withthe sun, or get at least seven
hours of sleep.
And amazingly enough, our bodywill do amazing things and it'll
start to repair itself with theright nourishment, the right
mindset.
(25:17):
And that will really, like allof that together will get you
out of the out of the chronicpain.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
So I wanted to touch on that briefly before we wrap
up.
Aside from the overall diet andthe overall exercise, what are
some things additionally that wecould do to prevent foot issues?
Like, I I've heard that it's agood thing if you're on your
feet all the time when you comehome, like soak your feet in
Epsom salts or whatever, or um,maybe stretches specifically for
the feet, like at the end of theday, sit at the end of your bed
(25:44):
and rotate your feet around.
Uh obviously getting out andjust walking, like forget about
running, just getting outsideand walking, things like that.
Like, what in addition to that,what else are some things that
you can do at home?
Some simple home remedies thatthat aren't too tedious, right?
It's not hard to fill up abucket of water and put some
salt in there and soak your feetin it.
SPEAKER_03 (26:02):
In fact, it's it's pretty not only should you try
an Epsom salt uh soak for yourfeet, you could also do an Epsom
salt back uh bath for your body.
SPEAKER_01 (26:12):
The full body, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (26:13):
If you do a full Epsom salt bath for your body,
um, and even add a little bakingsoda, that stuff is amazing.
Like it really helps relax yourmuscles.
People take baking soda forgranted, okay?
But it really does help withrelaxing, it's a muscle relaxant
and things like that.
Uh Epsom salt soap for yourfoot.
Um, calluses people have a lotof dry skin, and uh, when the
(26:39):
calluses get too thick, itinflames the tissue of the foot.
So moisturizing your feet dailyis important.
Stretching, um, just doing somecalf stretches, just taking an
exercise band or a belt andleaving it by your nightstand,
and then just doing like theseuh calf stretches like that, and
just holding the calf string andthe calf up, that helps a lot
(27:01):
because if you stretch out yourcalf um and your quads, it takes
a lot of pressure off your foot.
Because we we're sit, we've beensitting already for 27 minutes
here, and everything's tight.
So we sit so much in our carsand in our offices, we just had
to stretch our calf, brush ourstretch our quads, and just do
some light stretching at home,and it even helped it helps a
(27:22):
lot.
I I stretch my calf when I brushmy teeth, it's the only way I
can get it into my routine.
SPEAKER_01 (27:27):
Yeah, I I've been stretching uh a lot lately.
I I have um I'm dealing withsome sciatica from my last my
last running running bout.
I snapped something and I'vebeen struggling for like three
weeks now, and it's it's it'sbeen been pretty tough, but it's
getting better.
I'm almost out of the woods.
Uh, and and let me just tellyou, I don't take baking soda
for granted.
It that baking soda helps memake some incredible pancakes.
(27:49):
I'll have you know.
Yes, very true.
SPEAKER_03 (27:53):
Yeah, just the TLC.
Um, another thing, uh, you canget go on eBay or Amazon and get
for like 30 bucks one of thosetens units and just put it where
it hurts.
SPEAKER_01 (28:04):
What is it?
Tens units?
What is this?
SPEAKER_03 (28:06):
E-N-S tens unit, like an electric stimulator.
Okay, the Japanese they createdthose little sticky pads with
the that's where it started.
And they use it a lot ofphysical therapy.
If you have a home unit, ithelps a lot.
It's just about taking care ofyourself.
Like I have a neck massage, likea like a neck uh thing, I have
it right by my bed.
(28:27):
I just do it every night, and Idon't have a stiff neck in the
morning.
It's great.
So it's just about like tryingto incorporate something
soaking, massaging,moisturizing, stretching, those
are the top things that you cando to prevent foot pain in
general.
SPEAKER_01 (28:44):
Absolutely.
So you hear that, everyone.
Take care of yourself, right?
We only got this one life tolive.
Let's live it to the fullest.
Yeah.
unknown (28:54):
Cool.
SPEAKER_01 (28:55):
All right, well, we'll leave it at that.
Thanks everyone so much for forjoining us.
Thank you, everyone.
Magical journey.
If you found this contentuseful, you know the drill.
Don't forget to like, subscribe.
If you've had your own issues,if we missed anything, let us
know in the comments.
We're always interested to hearyour feedback.
And if we did miss anything oryou leave an interesting
comment, well, we'll bring it upon the next episode and we'll uh
(29:17):
we'll fill you in on that.
So, with that, everyone have awonderful day.
Take care, and we will catch youall next time on the next
episode of the LMD PediatryPodcast.
SPEAKER_00 (29:33):
Thank you for listening to the LMD Pediatry
Podcast.
For more information, visitLMDPodiatry dot com.
That's LMD P O D I A T R Y.com.
Or call nine five four six eightzero seven one three three.
Welcome to the LMD Podiatry Podcast.
Trust us to get back on yourfeet.
Here's your host, Dr.
Lauren Debakarov.
SPEAKER_01 (00:15):
Well, hello, hello, everyone, and welcome back to
another episode of the LMDPodiatry Podcast.
Your co-host, Jeremy Wolfe,alongside none other than the
hostess with the most us, Dr.
Lauren Debakarov.
Always a pleasure to see you.
SPEAKER_03 (00:29):
Thank you, Jeremy.
Always a pleasure to hang outwith you and talk about feet.
SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Talk about the feet.
Yeah, you know, I read somewhererecently that a staggering
number, around 80% of Americansat some point or other in their
life suffer from foot pain, inmany cases, chronic foot pain,
right?
And that makes sense, right?
Because we're on our feet allday.
Um, so today we're gonna talk alittle bit about that.
We're gonna talk about whatconstitutes chronic foot pain,
(00:56):
why it's so prevalent across ourpopulation, um, how we treat it,
how we manage it, and I thinkmore importantly, how we can
prevent it from happening in thefirst place.
So we're gonna get into this,and I'm gonna pick your brain.
Uh, you are you are the experthere.
I got some good questions foryou.
So so let's just start off withfrom like definition
definitionally speaking, right?
Like what in your mind or orwhat constitutes chronic foot
(01:18):
pain?
SPEAKER_03 (01:20):
So in my mind, chronic foot pain is essentially
pain that doesn't go away,right?
Uh, if someone has pain everyday, whether it's with a
specific step or with a specificshoe or a specific movement that
they do, that is the definitionof chronic foot pain.
(01:40):
It's just daily and it doesn'treally resolve on its own.
So now there's multi multiplefactors that go into that, but
that's my definition.
If someone has this nagging painand doesn't go away, and they
what and then if they dosomething about it and it still
doesn't go away, then it'sofficially chronic.
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
Got it.
So I mentioned that number 80%of Americans.
I wasn't sure if that was justfoot pain, generally speaking,
or actually chronic foot pain.
How common is it in you know,from what you see in your
practice, how common is chronicfoot pain?
And who who do you tend to seethat deals with it most?
Is it is it mostly the elderpopulation?
Is it like who who's a yourprime suspect, if you will, for
(02:24):
this ailment?
SPEAKER_03 (02:25):
I mean, okay, so I see a lot of patients.
I'm gonna say it's very commonin the inactive people and
people with multiple multiplemedical issues, also in the
obese population.
And there are athletes withchronic foot pain as well, but
that's from like some type ofinjury or something like that
(02:47):
that didn't heal.
But the people that always havepain in their legs and their
feet and their ankles, and it'salways both of them, and it's
always just the pain doesn't goaway, and they've tried it all.
I find it a lot in those peoplewho are very inactive, very
immobile, um, obese as well.
(03:09):
I see that a lot, and then thereare there is like I just had a
patient today who had a chronicfoot pain and he tried
everything, and I finally got anMRI, and he had a tear in his
foot, right?
So he's had chronic foot pain,he's been suffering for three
years, and someone me finallygot an MRI, and so it's a matter
(03:31):
of, so he he's been trying tolive with it for a very, very
long time, but in his case,there is a like there's a
solution, you know, we're gonnatry X, Y, and Z to get his tear
to heal, but there's always areason behind it, and he decided
not to ignore it anymore becausehe's an athlete.
SPEAKER_01 (03:52):
Smart man, glad he has you on it in his corner to
to help him through that thatprocess, right?
So I want to speak to a lot ofpeople out there.
I think there's a lot of peoplethat experience some pain in
their feet from time to time,uh, and and just ignore it.
Right in your in in yourpractice, what's what are some
(04:13):
of the biggest mistakes thatpeople typically make when they
first start feeling football?
Because I know from where I sit,I I'm in pain, I I'm often in
pain, right?
I I run a lot, as you know, andI a lot of times I have to kind
of weigh in my head.
Is this just uh a pain that isnot a big deal or is it a bigger
problem?
Is there an actual injury?
(04:34):
There's like a line betweenthere.
What what what it how do you seethat from your lens?
SPEAKER_03 (04:39):
So if it if it's a pain that just that you can't
walk it off and it keeps comingback, you need to see a doctor
for that.
Um, some of the telltale signsof chronic foot pain would be
like pain with the first step inthe morning.
Every time you wake up in themiddle of the night to go to the
bathroom or put your foot downin the morning, and your foot or
your ankle, your leg isexcruciating, something's going
(05:02):
on.
Okay.
Uh, or a lot of times when youhave pain at the end of the day,
meaning you just you had anormal day, you went to work,
you went to Publix, you walkedaround.
SPEAKER_01 (05:13):
Your feet are aching.
You want to get off your feet.
SPEAKER_03 (05:16):
You want to get off their burning and they're achy
at the end of the day,something's going on.
So a lot of a lot of so thereason why I wanted to bring up
chronic pain, it's notnecessarily if there's like an
acute um injury per state.
I wanted to more discuss abouthow how to get people out of the
(05:36):
pain cycle.
But more, like, for example, thethe telltale signs would be like
burning feet, tired feet.
Um, and the most common mistakeis a the person's shoe.
Like I said, you have an obesepopulation in America, and then
they're wearing these thin soleshoes that are not giving them
(05:57):
any support.
Not that I'm against barefootwalking, I'm not.
Uh, there's this whole um likethere's this whole trend.
I don't know if I want to callit a trend, but there's this
whole um ideology ofstrengthening all the intrinsic
muscles of your foot to healyour foot and things like that.
(06:18):
And that's great if you weren'tobese, right?
There's the zero-drop shoes andtoe yoga and things like that.
I'm not against it.
I was not educated about it inschool.
It can help with a lot ofpeople's foot pains, but for
people who have constant painand they have like burning and
numbness and tingling and achyfeet, and it just doesn't go
(06:39):
away.
SPEAKER_01 (06:39):
Uh that's support.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (06:42):
Yeah.
So that's where I wouldcategorize it as chronic foot
pain, right?
Um, and a lot of people sufferfor it.
Even I do.
I had issues with my feet for awhile, and until I changed my
shoes and did some therapy anduh put in some orthotics, now my
foot pain's gone.
And when I wear the wrong shoeand I'm and I had a nice
(07:03):
Thanksgiving and I gained threepounds, I feel it, you know.
So is it you know, my foot painis not necessarily chronic, but
I know what instigates it.
I know what is gonna trigger it,I know what my foot needs,
right?
Because I'm not light, I'm notobese, but I'm not light.
(07:24):
And my foot doesn't like a thinsoul chew.
And I can tell, I can feel itwhen I wear a flip-flop.
SPEAKER_01 (07:31):
Yeah, that that makes perfect sense.
Obviously, if you're uhsuffering from obesity, putting
more strain, like walking aroundbarefoot, is gonna put, yeah,
while it might help for somebodylike maybe I've heard that like
beach running is good for me,like on the sand, because your
feet go in all different waysand you're stretch stressing all
the different muscles.
But if you're already have asignificant excess load, I can
(07:52):
see how that could createstressors.
So the first thing would be, youknow, foundation.
Uh obviously it speaks to alarger issue, right?
About like overall health andtrying to maintain a healthy
lifestyle.
A lot of these ailments thatpeople suffer for not suffer
from not just chronic foot pain,but all sorts of chronic pain
can in many many times beaddressed by like lifestyle
changes, right?
Changes of your diet, changes ofexercise, your well overall
well-being in many cases willsolve these types of issues.
(08:16):
I know you mentioned that beforewe started.
A lot and a lot of times thischronic pain is really in
people's heads, right?
Psychosomatic to some.
SPEAKER_03 (08:23):
A lot of times, a lot of time, like listen,
there's people with fibromyalgiaand that and depression, and
that also takes a big it takes abig um number.
It it does play a big factor intheir foot pain.
Like I had a patient who he hada fracture for like a year, and
nobody and every someone justput him in a boot for like way
(08:45):
too long, and he he had completedisuse of his foot, and he was
in so much pain.
I fixed his foot surgically, Ifixed everything, I did all
these therapies on him.
I touch his foot, it doesn'thurt.
But he says, My foot hurts.
We repeated MRIs, and everyone'stelling him there's nothing
wrong with his foot.
And then the second Irecommended like a lifestyle
(09:06):
coach to him who got him on likea better diet, on an exercise
routine, and um, you know, weboth made him walk through his
pain.
He snapped out of it, and nowhis foot doesn't hurt because
he's happier now, and it's justlike he had something.
I think he also did a little bitof neurofeedback theory, uh,
(09:27):
therapy that's like for peoplewith attention deficit before.
Sometimes there's just synapsesin your brain that don't click,
and you really need to thinkoutside the box.
And that's when I love to likecall upon the chiropractors and
the lifestyle coaches, and uh,there's even something cool
called MRI therapy, which islike reflex therapy, very
interesting stuff.
(09:48):
Um, and it's all about trainingthe body to snap out of this
pain that they're stuck in.
So, yes, the foot can have aphysical injury, but sometimes
the pain doesn't let becausesomething is going on in the
subconscious, something is goingon on a different level in the
(10:08):
brain, and that sometimesthey're so depressed about their
pain that they just it doesn'trelease.
Right?
So, there's all that all thosethings are very connected to
chronic foot pain, which is whyI love my multi-fact, like
multi-step approach.
If the physical is there, andeven after we address the
(10:29):
physical chronic issue, likelet's say if the injury is
healed, if the fracture ishealed, if the chronic plantar
fasciitis is healed, if thechronic tendonitis is healed,
but they still have pain,there's something else
neurologically or subconsciouslyaffecting them, and even
health-wise, a lot of peoplethey have injuries.
(10:51):
Your but your body should healalmost everything naturally,
naturally, but but sometimeslike we live in a society that
has bad nutrition, so your bodycannot detoxify, you cannot heal
things properly.
Like you probably are a lothealthier than me.
Let's say you take morevitamins, so if you sprain your
(11:13):
ankle, you'll heal it fasterthan me, right?
So that are those all thingsthey play factors.
That's why when I have patientswith chronic issues, I address
all that.
I put them on vitamins, I sendthem to a lifestyle coach, I um
tell them to decrease theircarbs, I send them to a
chiropractor who doesspecialized uh like techniques
(11:33):
to release things from up herebecause a lot of times there's
things that happen up here orhigher up in the leg or the hip
that's affecting the pain downin the foot.
So that's kind of like that'swhy I wanted to bring this topic
to the forefront because peopleare suffering and they're
ignoring it, and they shouldn'tbecause it could affect their
(11:54):
health, it could affect theiremotions, it could affect their
psyche.
And then what kind of life doyou want to live?
Full of pain.
There's lots of things, there'sjust uh it's just so
multifaceted.
Even me, I had this tendinitisin my foot and it wouldn't go
away, and I didn't know why.
And um, I went to like a coupleof different people who were
(12:16):
like outside of the box thanyour traditional doctors, and
they were like, you have chronicanxiety and stress, and because
of that, I keep like tighteningup one side of my body and it's
compensating down there.
Yep, I was like, stop it.
I was like, no, no, I was like,no, first I didn't believe it,
(12:39):
but then I did somechiropractic, I did some like
changes, I did some stretches,and it made a difference.
I was like, wow, and then I waslike, I just I need to take care
of myself, I need to takecalming baths, and I need to
stretch a little more and takemore walks and and and be there
for myself.
So all these things, all there'sthere's all this subconscious
(12:59):
and emotional things that arerelated to chronic pain anywhere
in your body, but in general,foot pain number one is always
shoe related and obesity relatedin our generation, and that's
where it starts.
SPEAKER_01 (13:14):
Yeah, Jeremy What was that?
SPEAKER_03 (13:17):
What do you think?
What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
No, I'm I'm just I'm fascinated by you're hearing a
little echo.
No, I think we're good now.
The the psychosomatic side ofthis, because I notice
thankfully, I don't have even asa runner, I don't really have
chronic foot pain.
I my feet are are sore from timeto time, but I typically get
more pain in my knees from therunning of my lower back.
(13:39):
But I'll I'll find myselfrunning sometimes, and like I'm
perfectly fine, and then I getclose to the end and I feel like
I want to stop, and then all ofa sudden I'll get like a little
pain in my knee, and I startthinking in my mind, oh wow, did
I am I about to hurt something?
Or is this just my body tryingto like hijack me to stop
running?
And I'm like, and then all of asudden the next knee will the
(14:01):
other knee will start hurtingout of nowhere, and it's like,
okay, it's not the knee now,it's just in my head.
But there is a fine line betweenhaving a full bone injury and
actually just having somethinggoing on in your mind.
So when when a patient does showup in your office that's
experiencing this experiencingthis kind of pain, like take
take us through somebody's outthere, let's say I have chronic
chronic foot pain.
Um, I I pop into your office.
(14:23):
What is that process?
What is the evaluation processlook like?
Like walk us through what we'reto expect when we come in the
office with this issue.
SPEAKER_03 (14:31):
Right.
So so let's say someone comes inwith foot pain, they've had it
for a year, and they've gone todoctors, tried this, tried that,
doesn't go away.
So my first approach is alwaysto take the x-ray because you
want to take a look at thebones.
I don't just check for afracture or something like that.
(14:51):
I actually look at the shape ofthe patient's foot.
Because the shape of the foottells a lot about how they walk,
okay?
And if and the thing about shoestoday, I will say this shoes
today are made for foot size andnot for foot type.
You have people with higharches, low arches.
Back in the day, 100 years ago,all the shoes were custom made
to your foot.
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Okay, a cobbler made the shoes exactly.
Now you have where have allwhere have all the cobblers
gone?
We need more cobblers.
SPEAKER_03 (15:23):
You know, I'm a size 11, but no shoe is ever wide
enough for my foot, you know.
I have a wide foot, I have tokeep looking, and I found my
preferred brands, but they neverreally fit.
Like always, my toe like rubs alittle, you know what I mean?
So it's just like the shoestoday are knock-ups.
So so I take when I take thex-ray, I take 100%, I take a
(15:45):
look at the shape of the foot.
Because the shape of the footdoes and the shape of the foot
pair it with the wrong shoe willaffect their pain.
That's number one.
And then when I don't seeanything significant on the
x-ray, I have an ultrasoundmachine in my office, and I take
a look with the area of pain, Icheck for a swollen nerve or
torn joint, um, a torn ligament,uh uh, I check for a strain on
(16:11):
their uh on their tendon,something like that.
So I I like to see if there's anactual injury.
Just the other day, I had apatient, she's like, I have pain
on the top of my foot for ayear, and she went to this
doctor and that doctor, and theycouldn't help her.
Second I did the ultrasound, Iwas like, Oh, here, you have a
partial tear of your tendon.
You need to go into a boot forsix weeks.
So sometimes chronic pain canlike this person just didn't get
(16:36):
the right imaging to figure outwhat was causing her pain.
So now that we know what wascausing her pain, she's going to
immobilize her foot and hertendon should heal itself and
put itself back together.
If it doesn't, we get an MRI,and hopefully she doesn't need
surgery to stitch up the tendon,but she'll be okay.
But it's just like differentthings like that.
And it could be so easy to fixif the patients just come in,
(16:59):
and if they don't fix it, thenthey can tear, then they need
surgery.
Okay.
There's also another aspect ofchronic foot pain, I would say,
like people with neuropathy orarthritis, that pain never goes
away.
And some people just don't wantto deal with it, they pop
percocets and pills and vicodinsand gabapenthins.
(17:21):
Oh, not good, right?
So, like, for example, one of mybiggest like qualms with
neurology, right?
So, if someone has neuropathy,which is very painful, their
legs are burning and tingling,that is a chronic condition.
It is related to the nutritionof the nerve.
The nerve needs to wake up.
(17:42):
My multifaceted approach is tonourish the nerve, wake it up,
wake it up with a laser, wake itup with electric stimulation,
like a tens unit, buzz the crapout of the nerve, right?
Wake it up, start walking, okay?
Take a vitamin to help nourishthe nerve.
But then they go toneurologists, neurologists put
them on cymbalta, which is anantidepressant that actually
(18:05):
helps with nerve pain, or theyput them on gavapentin, or
lyrica.
Lyrica is also an antidepressantthat helps with nerve pain.
I'm not saying these thingsdon't help, they just don't fix
the root cause of the issue.
And these patients, their issuesget more and more chronic.
Same thing with arthritis.
They go to a rheumatologist.
Okay, you have rheumatoidarthritis.
(18:26):
Not saying they shouldn't be onmedications, but or someone just
has like a wear and teararthritis.
They use the asper cream fortheir hands, and they go on
these anti-inflammatories likediclofenac and maloxicam for
years, and then they destroytheir stomachs, right?
SPEAKER_01 (18:46):
So one problem for another, and don't eat, and you
don't even fix the underlyingproblem in the first place.
SPEAKER_03 (18:50):
Right.
So there's like there's so muchmore, and a lot of these chronic
issues like neuropathy andarthritis are related to health
as well.
You know, obviously, whensomeone has arthritis, I tell
them, don't eat dairy, don't eatgluten.
It's gonna make your arthritismore, you're gonna inflame more.
And there's studies about it.
(19:10):
You know, that's when I pairthem up with a lifestyle coach.
Hey, you need to go on somevitamins and change your
nutrition a little bit.
Diabetics too, diabeticneuropathy.
You need uh foods that are morerich in B vitamins, you need to
cut the potatoes, you need tocut the carbs.
It's my five, I tell mypatients, the diabetic patients,
(19:31):
stay away from the four W's.
No white rice, no white potato,no white pasta, and no white
bread.
SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
Oh, come on, that's not tough, right?
SPEAKER_03 (19:42):
It sucks to live.
But and that that goes back tonutrition and how like our food
is devoid of nutrients, which iswhy our but our DNI, our DNA
cannot repair itself.
So that's why these chronicissues really need to be
addressed from all parts of thespectrum.
(20:03):
Yep, and just give it a pill andignore it.
You should treat the root causeof the issue.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
I talk about it time and time and time again, how we
live in this instantgratification, quick fist, quick
fix, high-paced society whereyou know everybody is just
looking for the magic pill,right?
The one thing you could do, theone trick, the one social media
video that you see that solvesit all.
And and the hard conversation tohave is the conversation about
(20:31):
overall prevention, right?
How do we prevent these problemsfrom happening in the first
place?
Well, it goes back to the thingsthat we all struggle with doing,
building daily habits androutines and exercise and diet
and mental wellness, and youknow, for me, meditation,
journaling, all these differentthings play into living a happy,
productive lifestyle.
SPEAKER_03 (20:51):
Where I'm not great at this, but it really all boils
down to taking care of yourselfand putting time aside for
yourself.
I had a patient yesterday, Ihaven't seen her for a year, and
she says, I did everything yousaid, but because on the week on
the weekends, I do laundry, Iclean the house, I this, that's
when my foot hurts.
(21:12):
And I can't do anything aboutit.
I have to take care of thehouse.
And I'm like, you need to takecare of yourself.
Tell your husband to get acleaning lady and tell her to do
the laundry and the dishesbecause your planar fasciitis
has now become chronic becauseyou are not doing anything that
I asked you.
(21:32):
Like, she just she came in forpills, she asked me for pills,
and I'm like, listen, I'll giveit to you, it'll help, but you
really need to go back tostretching, you got to go back
to orthotics, or else you'regonna you're gonna end up having
surgery.
SPEAKER_01 (21:45):
Oh, yeah.
She'll take the she'll use thepills to numb the pain when
she's doing the work around thehouse.
The whole time that's happening,she's inflaming the area more,
and then it'll get to the pointwhere the pills don't even work
anymore, and your issue.
SPEAKER_03 (21:58):
I said, please go to physical therapy, take care of
yourself.
I had another patient, nicelady, I think she's like the
wife of a rabbi or somethinglike that, and the rabbi always
has like a million guests in hishouse or whatever, and she had
this really bad chronic Achillestendinitis, and I tried
everything on her because shedidn't have time to take care of
(22:18):
herself.
And then I looked at her and Iwas like, listen, go to physical
therapy.
And then when she finally wentto physical therapy and she took
care of the root cause of theissues of how tight she is and
all that kind of stuff, herAchilles tendon finally calmed
down, and she even sent me likea message.
She got my phone number fromsomeone, and like she sent me
like this amazing message on howthankful she was.
(22:40):
She just had to stop worryingabout the kids and worrying
about her husband and all theirguests all the time, and just
focus on herself, just treat theroot cause of the issue, treat
you know, do the therapy, do theicing, uh, get a massage, uh,
take the right vitamins.
SPEAKER_01 (23:00):
Now you're speaking my language.
SPEAKER_03 (23:01):
Cook yourself a healthy meal, and and your body
will will like love you andthank you for it.
It's very it's simple, it'shard, but that's the thing.
You know, we live in this uhinstant uh gratification
society, and everybody wantsthings fast and fast.
Fix it now.
Uh, just like I told this guy, Iwas like, hey, you have a tear
(23:25):
in your plantar fascia, yourbody should heal it, but it's
gonna take about six, seven,six, seven weeks.
And I said, But if you want tospeed it up, we could give you
one of the you could try thelaser and you know one of my
stem cell injections, but butthat's that's what people want.
People don't rely on theirbodies anymore to do what
they're supposed to do becausenobody has time.
(23:47):
I had a patient with like acomplete tear of his Achilles,
it was like hanging on a thread,and he's like, I'm sorry, I I I
sell cars, I need to go to work.
And I was like, fine, go to workin your boot, just keep your
boot on.
And he paid me, he gave me allthe money to use all my stuff
that makes him heal fast, and hehealed faster than most people,
(24:10):
which was pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_01 (24:11):
But he's motivated, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (24:14):
I don't care about the money, I just care about
getting these patients better.
It just takes time and nobodyhas patience.
Like that's why, and that's whythey end up in this with these
chronic issues.
You just have to you gottaaddress the nutrition, you gotta
address um your lifestyle, yougotta address the pain.
You even have to address yourcortisol levels.
(24:34):
Like a lot of times, like I havea patient who he's actually he's
getting laser therapy right now.
I'm gonna go see him after thispodcast.
And he says he's has sleepapnea, so that means he never
sleeps, and his cortisol levelsare always up, right?
So, how can your body repairitself?
How can your go back to normalif you don't sleep?
(24:56):
You gotta get some sleep.
Yeah, you know, so it's allrelated.
There are ways, you know, goodway to get your cortisol down is
take a walk in the morning withthe sun, or get at least seven
hours of sleep.
And amazingly enough, our bodywill do amazing things and it'll
start to repair itself with theright nourishment, the right
mindset.
(25:17):
And that will really, like allof that together will get you
out of the out of the chronicpain.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
So I wanted to touch on that briefly before we wrap
up.
Aside from the overall diet andthe overall exercise, what are
some things additionally that wecould do to prevent foot issues?
Like, I I've heard that it's agood thing if you're on your
feet all the time when you comehome, like soak your feet in
Epsom salts or whatever, or um,maybe stretches specifically for
the feet, like at the end of theday, sit at the end of your bed
(25:44):
and rotate your feet around.
Uh obviously getting out andjust walking, like forget about
running, just getting outsideand walking, things like that.
Like, what in addition to that,what else are some things that
you can do at home?
Some simple home remedies thatthat aren't too tedious, right?
It's not hard to fill up abucket of water and put some
salt in there and soak your feetin it.
SPEAKER_03 (26:02):
In fact, it's it's pretty not only should you try
an Epsom salt uh soak for yourfeet, you could also do an Epsom
salt back uh bath for your body.
SPEAKER_01 (26:12):
The full body, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (26:13):
If you do a full Epsom salt bath for your body,
um, and even add a little bakingsoda, that stuff is amazing.
Like it really helps relax yourmuscles.
People take baking soda forgranted, okay?
But it really does help withrelaxing, it's a muscle relaxant
and things like that.
Uh Epsom salt soap for yourfoot.
Um, calluses people have a lotof dry skin, and uh, when the
(26:39):
calluses get too thick, itinflames the tissue of the foot.
So moisturizing your feet dailyis important.
Stretching, um, just doing somecalf stretches, just taking an
exercise band or a belt andleaving it by your nightstand,
and then just doing like theseuh calf stretches like that, and
just holding the calf string andthe calf up, that helps a lot
(27:01):
because if you stretch out yourcalf um and your quads, it takes
a lot of pressure off your foot.
Because we we're sit, we've beensitting already for 27 minutes
here, and everything's tight.
So we sit so much in our carsand in our offices, we just had
to stretch our calf, brush ourstretch our quads, and just do
some light stretching at home,and it even helped it helps a
(27:22):
lot.
I I stretch my calf when I brushmy teeth, it's the only way I
can get it into my routine.
SPEAKER_01 (27:27):
Yeah, I I've been stretching uh a lot lately.
I I have um I'm dealing withsome sciatica from my last my
last running running bout.
I snapped something and I'vebeen struggling for like three
weeks now, and it's it's it'sbeen been pretty tough, but it's
getting better.
I'm almost out of the woods.
Uh, and and let me just tellyou, I don't take baking soda
for granted.
It that baking soda helps memake some incredible pancakes.
(27:49):
I'll have you know.
Yes, very true.
SPEAKER_03 (27:53):
Yeah, just the TLC.
Um, another thing, uh, you canget go on eBay or Amazon and get
for like 30 bucks one of thosetens units and just put it where
it hurts.
SPEAKER_01 (28:04):
What is it?
Tens units?
What is this?
SPEAKER_03 (28:06):
E-N-S tens unit, like an electric stimulator.
Okay, the Japanese they createdthose little sticky pads with
the that's where it started.
And they use it a lot ofphysical therapy.
If you have a home unit, ithelps a lot.
It's just about taking care ofyourself.
Like I have a neck massage, likea like a neck uh thing, I have
it right by my bed.
(28:27):
I just do it every night, and Idon't have a stiff neck in the
morning.
It's great.
So it's just about like tryingto incorporate something
soaking, massaging,moisturizing, stretching, those
are the top things that you cando to prevent foot pain in
general.
SPEAKER_01 (28:44):
Absolutely.
So you hear that, everyone.
Take care of yourself, right?
We only got this one life tolive.
Let's live it to the fullest.
Yeah.
unknown (28:54):
Cool.
SPEAKER_01 (28:55):
All right, well, we'll leave it at that.
Thanks everyone so much for forjoining us.
Thank you, everyone.
Magical journey.
If you found this contentuseful, you know the drill.
Don't forget to like, subscribe.
If you've had your own issues,if we missed anything, let us
know in the comments.
We're always interested to hearyour feedback.
And if we did miss anything oryou leave an interesting
comment, well, we'll bring it upon the next episode and we'll uh
(29:17):
we'll fill you in on that.
So, with that, everyone have awonderful day.
Take care, and we will catch youall next time on the next
episode of the LMD PediatryPodcast.
SPEAKER_00 (29:33):
Thank you for listening to the LMD Pediatry
Podcast.
For more information, visitLMDPodiatry dot com.
That's LMD P O D I A T R Y.com.
Or call nine five four six eightzero seven one three three.
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